Last night was a trifecta of fun. The evening started as my friends, Amber, Joe and I went over to Steve and Kathy’s house for an early-evening get together and then we went to dinner at a new restaurant on Main Street, Chai Cuisine and finally we stopped at one of our favorite spots, The Navy-Marine Club in the Heights for a nightcap. It was a fun night and sometime in the evening we were finally joined by our friend, the ever-elusive, Clare and it turns out it was her birthday! Keep on scrolling to join in on this fun-filled evening of...well...fun!

Amber and Joe picked me up at MBIP World Headquarters and here we are at our friends, Steve and Kathy’s house. We’ve never been here and this is sure one impressive house! You could fit about 17 MBIP World Headquarters inside of it! There’s Steve and Kathy on the porch off to the right. Let’s go up and let the Thursday evening’s festivities begin!

Steve and Kathy said they’d give us tour of this giganzo house and I thought I’d take photos of some interesting items and scenes as we go. The first photo I took was this impressive spice rack! It made me feel a little pathetic because my entire spice collection consists of a pepper jar on top of my microwave oven!

Their house and everything in it is so well put together and Impressive! This is just a small sampling of some of the sights of the tour. Steve and Kathy definitely have one of the coolest houses in Peoria and it was nice of them to invite us over!

We ended up in the basement and unlike The Ramones we willfully went down there! Our friend Clare was supposed to meet us here, but she never showed up, so we’re hoping we’ll see her at the restaurant where we’re having dinner. And what restaurant are we eating at?

This one! It’s Chai Cuisine which recently opened on Main Street near Bradley. Amber, Joe, Kathy and Steve have all eaten there and had great things to say about it, so I’m excited to try it out.

Every Sunday there’s a lunch special from noon to 2pm, where there’s live jazz and you can have an appetizer, soup and a main course for just $6.70! That’s a great deal!

Steve’s manning the door as we shuffle inside for dinner!

It’s so nice in here and it’s really got a comfortable vibe and ambiance.

We met the owners of the restaurant, that’s Chai on the left and Souk on the right. Chai is Souk’s father, which according to my calculations, makes Souk, Chai’s daughter. They’re really friendly and welcoming and it was great to meet them!

They have two menus, one Thai and another with Chinese selections. I may be wrong, but I think this is Peoria’s only Thai and Chinese cuisine restaurant. There’s lots of tasty sounding items on the menus and it’s going to be hard to choose which one to have for dinner.

We decided to order some appetizers first and here’s Souk taking the order and looking cute as can be while doing so! While that’s being prepared let’s take a look around in here.

Tables are placed in the center of the restaurant and line both walls for your dining pleasure. I love the art in here and those two bunnies on the wall are two of my favorite things in the world!

Meanwhile, back at our table...still no Clare. Sob!

But wait, here she is, hooray! And we found that it’s Clare’s birthday, so we forgave her for being late and wished her a happy birthday! Clare and I have been friends for longer than I can remember...but then I can’t remember the night before, so we may have just met! Anyway, happy birthday, Clare and we’re delighted you chose to spend your special evening with us!

Now the party is complete and we can officially begin the evening!

Suddenly the appetizers arrived at our table! We got two orders of crab rangoon and an order of fried tofu. The crab rangoon was so good! Crispy on the outside and the crab filling was so rich and creamy and blended perfectly with the sweet and sour sauce. I’ve never had fried tofu and it was really good. It came with a peanut dipping sauce and it was a wonderful dish!

Here’s Souk taking our orders for our main courses.

And now through the miracle of these here interwebs, here’s Souk delivering our meals already!

As wonderful as all these dishes look, they tasted even better! Between the Thai and the Chinese dishes there’s such a wide array of flavors and spices going on! I didn’t write down all the dishes we ordered but all of them were fantastic and the portions are beyond generous! I highly recommend you come and try the fantastic food here at Chai Cuisine!

After dinner, Souk brought out mango slices and sweet and sticky rice in honor of Clare’s birthday! Very nice! Thanks to Souk and Chai for a wonderful dinner and happy birthday to Clare!

When we finished dinner, Steve, Kathy and Clare went home and Amber, Joe and I decided to have a nightcap at the Navy-Marine Club in Peoria Heights.

Amber took the MBIP camera and took some photos of me using my Navy-Marine member card to swipe the door and gain access to the inner sanctum!

It’s always nice and dark in here and it’s got a real clubhouse feel to it. I love this place!

And here’s the best and friendliest bartender in Peoria, Mark! Always wonderful to see him!

This photo is a little dark and murky, because what happens in the Navy-Marine Club stays in the Navy-Marine Club...unless I decide to put it on MBIP! This was a really fun night and thanks to Amber, Joe, Steve, Kathy and Clare for hanging out. And thanks to Souk and Chai for the great hospitality and food at Chai Cuisine and thanks to Mark, as always for good times and conversation at the Navy-Marine Club. And of course, thank you for the Aintree Iron! Thank you very much! We’ll see you all tomorrow!